A non-tropical low pressure system in the middle Atlantic Ocean, about 350 miles east-northeast of Bermuda, has lost its opportunity to become Subtropical Storm Ida. This storm (Invest 96L) did develop a modest amount of heavy thunderstorm activity last night, and appeared on its way towards being named. However, high wind shear of 40 knots has now attacked 96L, driving large amounts of dry air into its core. The storm has now lost all of its heavy thunderstorms, and I give a low (less than 30% chance) that 96L will develop into Subtropical Storm Ida.

Figure 1. Morning satellite image of Invest 96L, east of Bermuda.

Time to keep an eye on the Western Caribbean and Gulf of MexicoMoisture is on the increase over the Western Caribbean, and the GFS model is suggesting a tropical depression could form in the Western Caribbean or in the Gulf of Mexico's Bay of Campeche west of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, 6 - 8 days from now. The other reliable models for forecasting formation of tropical storms--the ECMWF, NOGAPS, and UKMET--do not support this. However, the less reliable Canadian model also suggests a Western Caribbean development 6 - 8 days from now. Despite the presence of moderate El Niño conditions, wind shear over the Western Caribbean is expected to fall into the low to moderate range, 5 - 20 knots, late this week and most of next week. Hurricane season is not over, and we should keep a watchful eye on the Western Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico over the next few weeks.

Typhoon Mirinae slams into VietnamTyphoon Mirinae tricked forecasters this morning by unexpectedly intensifying into a Category 1 typhoon just before landfall in central Vietnam. Mirinae made landfall as a Category 1 storm with 75 mph winds at 02 UTC this morning, but weakened quickly as it moved inland. Mirinae is expected to dump 8 - 12 inches of rain along a narrow strip through central Vietnam, causing major flooding and crop losses. Vietnam is still recovering from the effects of Typhoon Ketsana last month, which left 163 dead and did $801 million in damage.

In the Philippines, residents are cleaning up the mess left by Mirinae, which hit Luzon Island on Saturday as a borderline Category 1 or 2 typhoon with 95 - 100 mph winds. Mirinae killed twenty in the Philippines, with four people still missing. Rainfall amounts from the typhoon in the Philippines were less than six inches, but that was enough to create substantial flooding, due to the saturated soils left by two previous typhoons.

Figure 2. Filipinos struggle to salvage the remains of a destroyed home during the landfall of Typhoon Mirinae on Saturday. Image credit: James Reynolds, typhoonfury.com. Reynolds and fellow storm chaser Jim Edds of extremestorms.com, recorded video of the impressive waves of Mirinae slamming the coast of the Philippines, and of some Filipinos struggling to salvage smashed housing materials in rough waters.

Light bulb just went on too...GFS track and CMC for that matter may not be too far fetched, as they probably expect 97L to become strong enough to be taken over by the mid layer mean, which would add a more northerly component. Oh yea, gotta say...been great forecasting with you this season!

same here...

It seems most of the return flow around the high is in the low and mid levels so yea I kinda agree with the west of north but I'm edging on a more northerly motion at the end of the forecast cycle.

Quoting reedzone:As I suspected last night, 97L is born. It looks good structurally, but needs some convection to really get going. It's under 10 knots of shear, should stay down there for a few days, after those few models models show wind shear decreasing in the Gulf. So it definitely bears watching.

Decreaseing shear? Not sure about that models are showing a very hostile upper environment across the southeast in terms of strong westerlies. Other then that development seems like a good bet into a td/ts as conditions are less hostile way south.

Yea...wierd for November. I was just going over the recent steering layers forecast maps...I gotta go with a WNW motion, and the left model guidance for the next 48-72 hours, albeit slow. Looks like after that, the low feature in the EPAC aids in creating a weakness, and allows 97L or what's left to make it to the BOC as you and I and some others have been thinking. Of course too...the steering layers forecast maps have been kind of sluggish since October, and I expect we'll probably see them change somewhat. I don't think they have a good handle right now on the weaknesses you've pointed out.

yea, but I will go with nw, it could cross Honduras into the Gulf of Honduras and over the Yucatan into the BOC.

the 00Z ECMWF sort of have far east while the GFS has a more westerly component.

I'll have to go with the GFS even though it isn't really being consistent having trouble after the feature goes into the Gulf of Honduras.

As I suspected last night, 97L is born. It looks good structurally, but needs some convection to really get going. It's under 10 knots of shear, should stay down there for a few days, after those few models models show wind shear decreasing in the Gulf. So it definitely bears watching.

Not much shear 15kts or so were 97L is so some slow development seems probable.just to its north a 40-45kt jet streak lies across the Caribbean. Any signifcant impacts other then some increased precip across the southeast appears unlikley as of now. 120hrs out 200-850mb GFS vertical windshear forcast.12z NAM is bullish and keeps it stationary.

Quoting Skyepony:TheCaneWhisperer~ Ya'll south of me seem to be the driest so far. That spring/summer 2nd year in an El Nino is when some part of FL if not the whole thing tends to try & burn down. Even though we have over all worse storms over the winter.. I'll point out again chances are good for a killer tornado outbreak (atleast 20) somewhere across FL this February.. El Nino is maturing in fine form (the graph is in my blog), so climo (back through the 80s) gives this a very good chance of passing..

Dry as a bone in these parts. You can have the nadoes, just send some precip.

MANILA, Philippines A low-pressure area hovering east of northern Luzon has intensified into a tropical depression Monday afternoon, making it the 20th weather disturbance to enter the storm-weary country this year.

Tropical Depression' Tino'(TD24) was estimated to be 270 kilometers east of Tuguegarao City in Cagayan as of 4 p.m. Monday, packing maximum winds of 55 kilometers per hour. It was forecast to move west northwest at 15 kph, according to the weather bureau.

Based on the average number of typhoons that hit the country yearly, there could be one to two more typhoons this month and another in December, said Nathaniel Cruz, deputy director of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

Storm Signal No. 1 was raised Monday over Isabela, Cagayan, Babuyan and Calayan Islands, and the Batanes group of islands.

Residents in low-lying areas and near mountain slopes are advised to take all the necessary precautionary measures against possible flash floods and landslides, PAGASA said.

It said the rest of northern Luzon will have occasional rains and gusty winds due to the surge of the northeast monsoon.

Upgrade

Only hours before the low-pressure area officially became Tino, PAGASA officials were not expecting it to become a tropical depression.

But Cruz told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone that the weather bureau decided to upgrade the low-pressure area to a tropical depression after developing stronger winds associated with the northeast monsoon.

Tino was expected to be at 90 km north of Aparri town in Cagayan or at the vicinity of Calayan Island later Tuesday afternoon.

The tropical depression was forecast to be 420 km northwest of Aparri or 330 km west northwest of Basco town in Batanes by Wednesday afternoon.

Strong gale winds were also expected to affect the northern and central Luzon seaboards.

Warning against boats

PAGASA warned fishing boats and other small sea craft against venturing out into the sea. Larger vessels were alerted against big waves.

The western seaboard of Ilocos and Central Luzon will have rough to high seas with waves as high as 7.5 meters.

The eastern seaboard will have rough to high seas with waves reaching 6.5 meters.

PAGASA said Tuguegarao would experience rains with gusty winds Tuesday and cloudy skies with rain showers and thunderstorms Wednesday.

The cities of Laoag and Baguio will be cloudy with rain showers and thunderstorms Tuesday and will be partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated rain showers and thunderstorms for the rest of the week.

Metro Manila, Olongapo, Angeles and Tagaytay cities will be partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated rain showers and thunderstorms Tuesday until the rest of the week.

The cities of Legazpi, Puerto Princesa, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cebu, Tacloban, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Zamboanga will be partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated rain showers and thunderstorms Tuesday and will be mostly cloudy with rain showers for the rest of the week.

Damage to infrastructure in Camarines Norte alone was pegged at P15.6 million, according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC).

Damage to agriculture was initially placed at P159 million, according to the Department of Agriculture.

The estimates were as of 5 p.m. on Nov. 1.

The damage was in addition to more than P27 billion in agricultural losses caused by two recent storms Pepeng (Parma) caused P20.48 billion in agricultural damage and Ondoy (Ketsana), P6.67 billion.

Santi dumped heavy rain and brought strong winds just weeks after Pepeng and Ondoy left about 1,100 dead and tens of thousands homeless.

Fewer casualties

The evacuation of more than 115,000 people in the days before the typhoon had resulted in fewer casualties compared with the other two storms, the NDCC said.

Most of those who were moved into evacuation sites have been trickling back to their homes since Sunday, it said.

The NDCC said the deaths from Santi were due mostly to drowning and occurred in suburban areas just south of Manila and in two eastern provinces.

One fisherman remained missing while 38 others were rescued on Monday after they set sail in bad weather in 17 small boats from the coastal town of Claveria in Cagayan, police said.

Rescuers helped to pull back 14 of the boats, but three were wrecked by high waves caused by heavy winds associated with Santi, police said.

In its latest report, the NDCC said eight people were killed in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and eight in Bicol when the typhoon battered the two regions on Friday night before swiftly sweeping Metro Manila.

Of the eight people killed in Bicol, seven were from Camarines Norte and one from Catanduanes.

Missing persons

The number of missing persons stood at four from Laguna, Quezon and Batangas, according to a report of Glenn Rabonza, NDCC executive officer.

The number of families provided shelter in evacuation centers has ballooned to 3,924, or 19,356 people, from Sundays figure of more than 2,000 families.

The families were being served with relief items the government had transported via a food caravan before the typhoon entered the country on Oct. 29.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development had moved P3.8 million worth of assorted relief supplies like family food packs, drinking water, blankets, noodles and medicines to cities and provinces expected to be hit by the typhoon.

Some P923,000 worth of relief goods were distributed in Metro Manila; P2.35 million in Calabarzon; and P538,083 in Bicol.

Authorities, however, said relief and rehabilitation efforts would continue for the more than 87,000 people left homeless by the two previous storms and staying in evacuation centers.

TheCaneWhisperer~ Ya'll south of me seem to be the driest so far. That spring/summer 2nd year in an El Nino is when some part of FL if not the whole thing tends to try & burn down. Even though we have over all worse storms over the winter.. I'll point out again chances are good for a killer tornado outbreak (atleast 20) somewhere across FL this February.. El Nino is maturing in fine form (the graph is in my blog), so climo (back through the 80s) gives this a very good chance of passing..

Fort Lauderdale set the record for the all-time driest October in2009. Rainfall for October 2009 at Fort Lauderdale was only 0.73inches. This was 5.71 inches below average. The previous driestOctober for Fort Lauderdale was 0.94 inches set in 1977.

That convergence is caused when the northerly winds behind the front meet the terrain of Mexico and slows down as it flows though the valleys of the isthmus of Tehauntepec. Anytime air slows down convergence occurs.